Monday, May 02, 2005

Some band members are bringing kids along (they can sit at the back with pop and crisps etc) - but if you decide to bring yours remember that we very loud!!

The revelations keep on coming heres DAVE's biog.

D.O.B - 14th December 1966 (good year for football , even better year for future curry house profits)Musical training - I used to watch rockschool on bbc2Most influential musician –PRINCEOther favourites – Midnight Oil , Peter Gabriel, Tubes , Faith No More , Queen , Kiss , Marillion , Live , Chillis , Ben Folds , System Of A Down and more or less owt i will basically listen to anything

Fave bassist – Gene Simmons of Kiss is the reason I wanted to play bass (that and the fact that I couldn’t be bothered to learn all those chordy things) but i do love tony levin who is best known for his work with peter gabriel

Worst gig – the final erics gigBest gig – the next erics gig

History

Started playing bass in ‘82 in Bias (formally Black Night) with mates from school , playing our own stuff because we weren’t good enough to play anyone else’s. We wanted to be the next Heavy Pettin’ , unfortunately nobody had even heard of the first Heavy Pettin’ (have you?)Played a few gigs at Haddon Hall Leeds and in Cas, recorded a demo and promptly disappeared off the face of Bramley , packed in playing bass in ‘83

I knew Paul through school but not that well. (he was the scary beardy one who hung around with the guy who looked like David Bellamy) Got to know him better through parties at his house after school plays and stuff . Also where I used to see Phil (he dint talk a lot , think he was scared of me)The first time I ever saw Sam he and Paul were playing in a band called Eclipse or summat at the Black Bull in East Ardsley. The only song Sam sang that night was Careless Whisper (yes the George Michael one) rock n fookin roll or what?Shortly after this in the early to mid 80’s I started doing lights for the Four Millions which featured Paul and Sam ( plus Steve , Russ , John and Crusher), the Mills were all about playing the best songs around , getting a point across and having a good laugh(Full description of Mills in Sam n Paul’s biogs) After sacking the sound man I took over and we had about 8 or 9 years of constant gigging , parties , suspect beards , weight gain/loss , dodgy knitted jumpers and really good times. Stood in on bass a couple of times but used to shit myself when we played.

In the middle of all this in ’89 I got a call from Phil to see if I wanted to play bass in Monody so after 6 years gathering dust I got the old bass out and started rehearsing. It was about five months practice , one demo , one gig spent hiding behind the P.A. and Monody disappeared off the face of Rawdon

Carried on sounding for the mills , Phil called me again in ’92 to join Happy Salad , Paul came in on drums and Nick did sound , this was probably one of the best things to happen to me in respect to my playing. Because 95% of the material was original stuff so I had to write/play proper bass lines. Plus recorded decent demo. Had a good couple of years with Salads (mostly hiding behind P.A.) and made a couple of good mates in Lynne (keyboards) and Nick.

Then US 4 got together in ’95? With me , Paul again , Sam , and a lad called Alex who we all knew from St Johns am dram and Nick mixing plus the odd (very) guest appearance from Crusher. We covered a lot of indie and rock stuff and had some really good gigs with a great fanbase and a great sound , and I stopped hiding behind the P.A.

Phil would sometimes stand in for Alex and after a while , ‘97ish , the Erics were born with me , Sam , Phil and Nick on drums and once again the odd spot with Crusher. The Erics went down well from the start playing a lot of the recent indie chart n rock stuff with plenty of classics and the odd daft one. It just kept getting better and better with us averaging 50 gigs a year. (Including more and more Biker do’s) We were a lot more vocal driven with plenty of vocal harmony and Nick singing a couple as well.Now and again Phil could’nt do the odd gig so a good friend of all of ours called Mart would stand in .

Me Mart and Crusher formed a band together called Little Man ,a stripped down punky outfit , which ran while I was still in the erics. Little man were fookin ace with me on bass and vocals Crusher on guitar and vocals and Mart (the animal) on drums. We lasted a few gigs but folded.

Around this time Sam started to stand in on bass for The Flashing Blades , a well established rock covers band , and when the guitarist left sam took up his duties and I came in on bass. The band were me and Sam , Brian on vocals and the big ‘un Woody on drums (a great lad and a great mate). We played a shitload of gigs over the next couple of years while me and Sam carried on with the erics and had some really good times but in the end it just seemed to fizzle out.

Then it happened again and Little Man were reborn but this time Woody came in on drums and Mart played lead guitar. We learned a load of new stuff played a few gigs but folded again.

And while all this was going on The Erics were still gigging 50 times ayear and just going from strength to strength , after a while I began to sing a few lead vocals which opened us up to a few more songs. And just when everything was going great Nick left to live in New Zealand which was a total shitter , but it did mean that since ’04 Paul has been back where he belongs.(with his mates)Since then the set has really changed with Phil now singing a couple and loads of new material. Also we have updated our P.A. and backline plus altered the lights to add to the show. And this is just the beginning!All I can say about the Erics is that it is the best band I/we have ever been in. and on a good night we just know what each other are thinking/ gunna do. And you just don’t get that feeling very often in life, never mind in a bloody band! See you all soon.

Yours – Dave – the sexy onePlus I would like to take this opportunity to thank my missus Linda who has driven me to hundreds of gigs

Wow wow wow I didn't know you liked System!!! Can't wait till I can come to one of your gigs again, it's been a sad two years having to work and not come and rock out. But Kate is unemployed now and has Saturday nights free again!!! Yaaaay (?) but also has no money :( fuck.From your little Dancing Girl!!!